Minutes after a man stabbed a woman early Monday during a home-invasion burglary in Whitehall Township, police in neighboring Catasauqua spotted the suspect and tried to stop him.

He fled in his sport utility vehicle, and police and then state troopers gave chase, converging on him in the middle of the night when he crashed into a snow bank on Plymouth Street in an industrial stretch of east Allentown.

He ran from his SUV, and a Catasauqua officer shot him with his Taser, but it had no effect.

The suspect turned around and started slashing at one of the Catasauqua officers, stabbing him repeatedly with a large carving knife, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said at a Monday afternoon news conference.

Another Catasauqua officer and a state trooper opened fire on Nichols, killing him, Martin said.

A preliminary investigation, which included viewing images from a patrol vehicle's dashboard camera, showed the two officers used proper force when they fired and killed 42-year-old Jerome D. Nichols of Catasauqua, the district attorney said.

State troopers are investigating a police-involved shooting in which a Catasauqua officer was stabbed in east Allentown on Monday, February 23, 2015.

State troopers are investigating a police-involved shooting in which a Catasauqua officer was stabbed in east Allentown on Monday, February 23, 2015.

"It's pretty clear to me that the officer was under attack with a large knife," Martin said. "He was stabbed multiple times. Certainly, under those circumstances, the force that was utilized was, in my opinion, justified."

The Catasauqua officer has not been identified but was described as a five-year veteran of the department. Borough police Chief Doug Kish said the officer is "in a good frame of mind."

"He had some surgery to control the bleeding," he said. "He's in good spirits and expected to make a full recovery."

Kish added that his officer was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was stabbed.

State troopers are investigating a police-involved shooting in which a Catasauqua officer was stabbed in east Allentown on Monday, February 23, 2015.

State troopers are investigating a police-involved shooting in which a Catasauqua officer was stabbed in east Allentown on Monday, February 23, 2015.

The trooper and Catasauqua officer who fired their weapons were placed on administrative duty pending an evaluation of the circumstances surrounding the shooting, which is standard procedure, according to state police Capt. Brian Tobin, commander of Troop M in Bethlehem.

Police said the events leading to the shooting began about 3 a.m. with a home invasion in the 2100 block of Main Street in the West Catasauqua section of Whitehall. Nichols had been in a relationship with a 49-year-old woman who lived there, but that had ended weeks earlier, Martin said.

Nichols, of Race Street, barged into the woman's home, police said, and may have also vandalized her vehicle. She told Whitehall police, who responded at 3:08 a.m. to a 911 call of a stabbing, that she woke up to Nichols' standing over her.

At some point, Nichols stabbed the woman, and she pushed out a second-floor window screen to yell for help, police said.

Neighbor Heather Cordisco said she heard screaming and a struggle from the neighbor's home. She said her mother heard the woman screaming, "Help me, help me!"

Martin said the woman was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. Her teenage son was also in the home at the time of the attack but didn't witness it, Martin said.

Nichols fled in an SUV that was spotted on Race Street in Catasauqua by a pair of borough officers, starting a pursuit that went to Airport Road and then American Parkway, where two state troopers joined the chase, police said. The SUV turned onto North Plymouth Street and got hung up while going over a snow bank, police said.

Nichols fled on foot and all four officers gave chase, police said. One of the Catasauqua officers fired a Taser, but it was "not successful." Nichols turned and pushed a Catasauqua officer into a snow bank and repeatedly stabbed him, police said. That's when, at 3:24 a.m., the other Catasauqua officer and one of the troopers shot Nichols, police said.

"Nichols died as a result of being struck by one or more rounds," police said.

The knife was recovered. Police say they believe it is the same one used to stab the woman.

At the scene Monday morning in east Allentown, a Catasauqua police SUV was stopped on an embankment in front of Harry's U-Pull-It lot in the 1300 block of Plymouth Street near Columbia Street.

Police viewed surveillance from area businesses, as well as footage from a state police vehicle. When asked what more evidence is needed to complete the investigation, Martin said, "To be very frank, not much."

Nichols had a lengthy rap sheet, including several arrests for assaulting women, resisting arrest and driving drunk.

In 2000, he yelled at a district judge and fought with a deputy sheriff during his preliminary hearing on charges he assaulted his pregnant girlfriend, according to court records.

In a 1993 arrest, he fought with Catasauqua police officers, kicking one in the jaw and injuring another officer's wrist during a struggle, court records say.

At Monday's news conference, Whitehall and Catasauqua police said they were not familiar with Nichols.

"It wasn't a name that popped out right in front of me," Kish said.

Kish said his first concern on learning about the shooting was for the well-being of his officer and the officer's family, as well as the the officers who had to use deadly force.

"It's a traumatic experience, no matter which way you're involved in it," he said.